Labor stacks Sydney Airport Community Forum

At the initial Council Meeting of the new Council, I was elected a delegate to the ‘Sydney Airport Community Consultative Committee. Unfortunately, this body no longer exists, having been replaced by the Sydney Airport Community Forum (SACF).

The Council therefore had to appoint for SACF and Greens Councillor Peter Olive nominated me as the ‘alternate delegate’ to the Mayor, however, all four Labor councillors and the Independents voted to have a council bureaucrat be the delegate instead of a Greens Councillor.

Sydney Airport is a sensative issue for Labor. More so now that local member, Anthony Albanese, is the Federal Transport Minister in charge of the Airport. Clearly Labor were seeking to protect Albanese from any political dramas over the airport by stopping a Green going on the SACF.

Looking further into who are the members of SACF on their website, I noticed that the ‘Community Forum’ was in fact full of Labor Party hacks. Ex-Mayor of Marrickville, Labor’s Barry Cotter is Marrickville’s ‘community representative’. South Sydney’s ‘community representative’ is ex-Mayor of South Sydney, Labor’s Vic Smith.

Albanese as Minister appoints the ‘community representatives’ and is clearly stacking the forum with Labor mates.

Other members of SACF include representatives from Labor MPs offices, such as Carmel Tebbutt, the member for Marrickville and Albanese’s wife!

If it were really an ‘Community Forum’, a Greens councillor would be an appropraite delegate, and a community representative such as Alan Rees from No Aircraft Noise, would be appointed.

It is disappointing that the ‘fresh Labor team’ is up to the same old tricks.

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The Marrickville and Petersham-Newtown Greens are the local groups for members of The Greens political party living in the Sydney suburbs of Dulwich Hill, Enmore, Lewisham, Marrickville, Newtown, Petersham, St Peters, Stanmore, Sydenham and Tempe.

All electoral comment on this site authorised by Richard Morrell 19 Eve Street Erskinville NSW